There were two public protests – one that led to three arrests – last month at 40 Westminster Street in downtown Providence, corporate headquarters for Textron. The Rhode Island-based conglomerate was identified as Saudi Arabia’s source for cluster bombs and Saudi-led forces were accused of using the highly controversial and indiscriminate weapon, that 119 nations have outlawed but not the United States or Saudi Arabia, in its bloody conflict in Yemen.

“This is just the first of many protests that will be occurring,” she wrote on Facebook. “I plan on having events that will not neccesitate anyone’s physical presence in Providence but will enable people across the US to participate.”

Ward lived in Lebanon as a teenager and her experience there inspired her to organize against Textron making weapons known to maim innocent civilians.

“In 1982, when I was 16 years old and living in Beirut, Lebanon, I had a friend who lost both legs when he accidentally rode his bicycle over an Israeli mine He was 12 years old,” she wrote. “His family was unable to afford to get him a wheelchair much less prosthetic legs. As a result, there wasn’t much he was able to do. In the morning he was carried down to the corner store where he spent his day playing pinball and in the evening carried back home again. This happened every day, 7 days a week. When I left Lebanon 5 years later, this was still the case. Still no wheelchair, still no prosthetic legs. His life had been reduced to pinball.”

The demonstration this week is scheduled for Thursday, 11am to 1pm. A spokesman for Textron declined to comment.